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“Could we swim?” I suggest.
“Too far.” North paces up and down, keeping an eye on the island. “None of us are that strong if we were swimming that far of a distance in a calm swimming pool, never mind with the currents and waves.”
That’s true. In the vision I saw the waves crashing up onto the shore of the island, ten feet tall and full of fury. There’s no way that we could survive that.
“Okay, could we somehow ride the waves? Construct a boat of some kind using magic?”
“Roanac will have his people on the lookout for anyone coming after them,” Cain points out. “We have to get there in a way that’s stealthy. If he sees us coming, he can destroy us or have an army waiting.”
I saw Roanac with Donovan and some shades. Who knows how many more of his army he’s brought over while he’s taking on this new magic? We could have a hell of a greeting for us when we get ashore.
“I could fly over,” Raven suggests. “Do some scouting.”
“There has to be a weakness in the portal defenses,” Cain mutters.
“You’re not flying over alone,” North and I say at the same moment.
“We’re sticking together,” I add. “If you go off on your own and something happens to you, we can’t help you.”
“You were about to go off on your own a short bit ago,” Raven points out.
“And you all stopped me,” I counter. “You were right to stop me, and I’m right to stop you. You’re strong, Raven, but even you could be overwhelmed by an army of shades.”
Cain rubs at his temples. “There has to be a solution. Could we travel under the water some way? Build some kind of magical construct?”
“What kind?” North asks. “The kind of magic we’d need for that, the knowledge and skill that would be required, that’s mage stuff. Not that any of us are slouches but even if we had the magical power to do that, even if Kiara’s fae powers were that strong, that doesn’t mean we have the actual know-how to make a damn submarine. I sure don’t know how to do that. I don’t know the spell work.”
Fuck, he’s got a point. I don’t know how to create a spell either. Mages and witches and people like that train their innate magical ability by learning how to channel magic through spells, or combining ingredients to activate their natural magic, things like that. I might suddenly be able to get into contact with other fae—ouch—but that doesn’t mean I have the knowledge to make a spell that will bind wood and other supplies together to make a watertight machine. That would be like thinking I could understand rocket science without a degree in physics.
“We can make ourselves invisible,” I point out. “We could use that to our advantage, if we could get across. I don’t want Raven to go alone but how many of us can he carry at once? If he can take over two of us, say, Cain and I, we’re lighter. Then he can leave us there and come back for you, North. Cain and I will be together, so nobody will be alone in a place of danger.”
North looks like he’s still hesitant about this, but before he or one of the other men can say something, the water parts before us.
I jump in surprise. I’ve never seen water do that, what’s going on?
Like something out of fucking mythology, the waters literally part in front of us to make room for none other than Donovan, leading a massive group of shades.
Shit. Fuck, shit, fuck.
It occurs to me that just as I can sense Roanac, maybe he can sense me. I would've thought he’d be too busy being in unbearable pain as he transforms, but apparently he’s not too overwhelmed to be unaware of when I’m nearby.
Raven transforms and Cain’s hands burst into flames, the two of them dropping into their battle stances. North doesn’t transform, although I’m sure he would if he could, but he puts his hands on the hilts of his daggers, ready to draw them if need be.
“Impressed?” Donovan asks with a smirk, spreading his arms wide. Of course that pathetic little shit couldn’t resist a little showing off. “Roanac’s powers are unbeatable now.”
Oh great, he’s showing off someone else’s powers. That’s pretty fucking pathetic, if you ask me.
Donovan points at us. “Get them!”
The shades charge at us, and North draws his daggers. I slip on my brass knuckles and press the button that activates the spikes. It’s a little present that Cain and North got for me when they went out to get supplies. I’m not used to wielding a weapon like a sword, and I don’t know how to use my magic to attack someone, the way Cain does, but I’m good at hand-to-hand combat and so that’s what I can use against them.
A shade comes at me, and I dodge, dropping my weight and then stepping to the side with my right foot so that I can pivot and punch the shade in the back of the neck, the spikes on my brass knuckles going in deep and allowing me to brace back, using my weight to fling the shade back over my shoulder.
“You really want to keep being this asshole’s stooge?” I demand of Donovan. He’s just close enough to me that I can yell at him. “And here I thought vampires were supposed to be all about dignity!”
Donovan snarls at me, his fangs protruding. “If you think you’re going to get out of this again, you’re mistaken. Roanac doesn’t need your power anymore, or your blood. You’remine.”
“Then come and fucking get me,” I snarl right back at him.
